10 - Getting over it.
Lyra Heartstrings - Day 5
Safeton - Mount Mercy, Wieav
Lyra squirmed slightly beneath the heavy blanket she had been placed under. The cause of her distress? A thousand metaphorical pins and needles gently sliding point first across her skin all along her left side. All of her left side. With nearly perfect bilateral symmetry.
If the girls brushed itching powder on me again I am going to put a hoof firmly up each of their plots. Lyra vowed as she did her best to try and move.
Try being the key word. Every part of her body felt numb and stiff. As if she’d been laying down for actual days pre-vampirism.
Wait, we can get stiff? How long was I out? Months? Years? Lyra wondered, finally managing to peel her eyes open slightly.
Only to instantly shut them and wince thanks to the bright sunlight streaming into the rustic room she found herself in through a rather inconveniently placed window.
<GET UP!> A voice shouted within the depths of Lyra’s mind.
Many people would have panicked at the sudden appearance of a foreign voice in their head. Those people don’t have changeling friends.
Lyra focused her foggy mind, doing her best to reach back along the telepathic link. <Working on it… Really stiff. My whole left side itches real bad. Tell everyone else I’ll be a minute, okay?> she said silently.
Then the part of her brain responsible for remembering what people sounded like piped up, informing Lyra that particular voice was not in fact her old friend Meep of Amber. It was too mid-pitched and breathy. No this was someone else.
<I can’t talk to them! There’s an assassin training a bow on you, and mom’s napping. GET UP!> The voice screamed rapidly with the sort of urgency one might have if someone held a knife to their sexorgans.
“IT IS!” Someone snapped audibly. “But WHY is it?!”
Did I just imagine them using telepathy? Was she speaking out loud? Ow… Head foggy… Why? Lyra wondered to herself as her fogged brain was still busy looking up what the word “assassin” meant and wondering why you need to train a decorative tired piece of ribbon.
“Who are you and why are we yelling?” Lyra asked weakly from her cozy place on the bed.
<If you die, I die! GET UP! MOVE! NOW! I’m out of range!> The telepathic voice shouted.
Wut? Lyra asked herself groggily. The word “die” registered properly a heartbeat later, her body doing it’s best to shake off days of inactivity for the sake of survival. Adrenaline began to flow through her veins, pushing things back into place. Slowly.
Lyra twitched in surprise as what felt like a hand grabbed hold of-
I have a hand?! SWEET! Lyra thought to herself, the little bit of happiness shaking a good chunk of the fog out of her mind. Lets not question this.
“It’s okay. That’s Francine. She’s a friend we picked up. But she’s having a bit of an emotional crisis right now. We need to get her sorted out,” Vinyl’s voice quietly and calmly explained, though Lyra could hear cracks in that facade. Something was wrong..
Lyra noded, tried to sit up moaning as she slowly pulled herself upright. Owww… I feel like I got hit by a flying oven, and Bulk Biceps threw it. Lyra internally moaned. What in Tartarus happened to-
She froze for a moment, taking in the fact that her best friend’ voice had come out of a small white humanoid lizard creature. UHHHHHHHH! OH! RIGHT!
Memories of a hellish day came flooding back in a flash. Nearly finishing her machine. Accidentally summoning a particular evil dick. Vinyl’s little brother cunningly manipulating said dick into a game of LARP with the world at stake.
And of course, jamming herself and a junk-golum into a castle window frame to try and prevent a nuke’s heatwave from frying a particularly frightening yet nice fairy.
That- that was dumb. Really dumb. Did it work? Lyra wondered, her face slowly pulling into a frown.
“Okay…” Lyra said before looking up at Vinyl. “Did Orchid make it?”
Lyra’s eyes quickly flicked over her surroundings. There was a very very tall humanoid creature standing near the window, who looked agitated but not like a threat. The room she was in looked like a hospital room given a rustic makeover, almost as if Fluttershy had chosen to dabble in interior design but had chosen to not incorporate living plants into... Well, everything.
Vinyl paused and looked down at the walnut floor. “No,” she said softly. “She used all of her swarm’s magic to shield yo-”
<MOVE!> The telepathic voice screeched again.
This time a picture accompanied her word. Everything Lyra had been thinking vanished with that word. Everything she was able to see disappeared in an instant. Only the image and the word accompanying it remained, smashing all else aside like a length of two-by-four swung by a major league baseball player.
An aerial view of a rustic town, something you’d see anywhere in Equestria except full of spider-people which ranged from cool to cute to creepy. Everything centralized around a town square with a clocktower on the far side. A really cool stone wall carved and painted to look like a sleeping dragon encircling the maze of streets and rounded-rectangle granite buildings.
All of that was tinted blue, shaded away. Save for the clocktower and one small two story building. The building was interesting due to having a highlighted shape within it located just behind a window facing the clocktower. A big arrow pointed to the figure and was labeled “you”.
The clocktower also had a dot on it. It’s dot was located near the top, on the side facing the small building. More importantly it was labeled “Assassin!” A box drawn around the assassin's dot showed a view of said assassin in a magnified ‘window’ of sorts.
A very slender long legged spider-person dressed up in a costume which made them look like a huge wasp with a white face. They were busy knocking an arrow to a bowstring. An arrow which was labeled with a handy box listing a scan’s data showing the arrow to be infused with magic, specifically an Evocation spell, and configured to explode with a force equal to twenty five grams of something called semtex.
Of much more concern to Lyra was the large but narrow red cone which started at the assassin and moved through the open window towards her. And was labeled “Estimated projectile trajectory”.
Ohhhh, buck we’re boned! Lyra yelped mentally, coiling her legs beneath the blanket to try and dive out of the way.
Something exploded. Something wet squelched. Lyra dove forwards, the image sent to her fading from her mind an instant before she saw Vinyl was directly in her path. Lyra twisted left, reaching out to tackle her friend to the floor.
“LOOK OUT!” Lyra shouted as she carried Vinyl to the blood drenched floor.
Another arrow hissed overheard, striking the wall behind them and exploding, sending shards of stone whizzing every which way.
<Thanks, voice. Awake now. Unarmed. What do?> Lyra silently asked, hoping her unseen benefactor would have a plan.
“Celestia!” Vinyl swore in shock, her eyes widening in horror.
“Snap out of it, Vi, we’ve been in worse than this!” Lyra said as she gently shook Vinyl’s shoulder.
Her words seemed to sink in as Vinyls’ terrified face calmed somewhat. “You’re right. Come on. We need to get to the hallway,” Vinyl decided as she began crawling towards the room’s door.
“Good pla-” Lyra began as the voice interrupted her again.
<Bad plan! Stay put. If you move he’ll move. I just need ten seconds,> she said.
Lyra was about to protest as a third arrow sailed through the window, trailing green arcane light behind it. The arrow shot into the door, embedding itself deep into the wood before exploding, the green flames blasting a person-sized hole in the thick timbers like a rearhoof through thin paper mache.
Vinyl moved by instinct, rolling to her side, pressing herself up against the wall into which the window was set.
If he can't see, he’ll have to guess. Even though those arrows will make these walls into Stable Cheese, I don't think he’ll waste them, Lyra thought as she scrambled towards the wall herself.
As she turned, Lyra saw she was looking directly out the window. In this instant she was completely exposed, and those arrows flew like lightning.
She could see the assassin now. A large black and yellow shape, clinging to the side of the tower like a tick on somepony’s flank. His bow flashed, faint white light tracing patterns on its surface as its magic prepared to lend speed to the glowing green arrow.
Horseapples, Lyra internally groaned.
A ruby ray of light burned across the sky, shrieking like an electric hawk as the scintillating beam sliced its way towards the assassin's heart. The ray slammed into a previously invisible barrier which turned opaque as it absorbed the attacks’ energy, transforming into a luminescent ball of strobing red and blue light.
An arrow flew out of the ball, it’s path taking it away from the window where it exploded against the eerily calm street below.
<Huh, that shield is pretty good,> the mystery voice remarked, more than a little impressed by the sound of things.
Lyra had just enough time to watch the people in the immediate area calmly take whatever cover they could, then wonder Who on Equis can be this calm with a maniac shooting explosive arrows around?! Before a large bell nearby rang three times.
The bell was located somewhere behind the building Lyra was in. Her head turned reflexively to look for the sound, bringing Vinyl into view for a moment.
Vinyl had gotten down on her belly and was looking through a hole blasted in the wall towards the clocktower. Her tail twitched left and right, a sure sign that she was planning.
She’ll work something out, Lyra said to herself with a quick nod
Lyra looked back out the window. <Mystery Voice,> Lyra said, directing her thoughts as best she could. <My sister has a saying: If hitting it doesn't work, just hit harder.>
<I’ll give it a shot, but I think Mom’s got this one. That’s what the bell was for,> came the reply.
Mom? Lyra wondered.
The ground rumbled slightly as a male voice spoke through a giant megaphone. “Maru, there’s a ne'er-do-well on the clocktower shooting at people. Could you take care of it before your hatchling damages it? The tower that is.”
“Of course,” an impossibly large female voice boomed, making both Lyra and Vinyl jump as they realized it was a voice and not thunder.
Lyra scanned the horizon and sky, searching for anything which could have possibly spoken at such an impossible volume, and saw the white gleam in the sky as her benefactor began her dive.
A dragon, mostly white, with electric green highlights, and a splash of purple, and not much bigger than Lyra remembered Empress Ember being. She came flying down from the heavens like a bird of prey, her dive perfectly angled to let her sink her claws into her prey.
Oh yeah, my “class” gets a dragon mount, Lyra thought.
Then the white dragon slammed into the assassin, and Lyra stopped thinking.
The dragon smashed into the assassin, his shield flared brightly then popped like a water balloon somepony stepped on, unable to withstand a ton of biomechanical flesh ramming into it at near-mach speeds. The impact alone would certainly have crushed her target, but the shield did its job well enough, absorbing just enough energy to prevent him from being squished like an arachnid, and also from being plowed straight through the tower.
What it didn’t stop was the dragon hooking her forelegs under the Araka’s arms, bracing her rear talons against the clocktower wall, wrenching the smooth stone surface from her prey’s grasp and then flipping him skull downwards over the back of her head and launching herself along with her screaming assailant to the ground below in a perfectly executed suplex.
The crack of Arakan skull against cobblestone was drowned out by the dull wumph of the dragon hitting the ground a heartbeat after.
Vinyl and Lyra stared out the window, mouths agape as they took in the entirety of what had just happened.
Then the wall moved.
The city wall shifted, glinting in the sunlight in a way painted stone never could as it rose up into the heavens, revealing itself to be, in fact, an actual dragon of unfathomable size. The Colossus turned, very carefully and gingerly moving so as not to hit nor step on any part of the village she had been curled around, her head plunging the entire town square into shadow as she tilted her head so one eye could face downwards, looking intently at the comparatively microscopic dragon below.
The immense red dragoness sighed a horrific sigh. The sigh every child has heard at least once. The sigh of a very frustrated mother whose caught you in the cookie jar for the fifth time today.
The white dragon rolled over onto her legs, then held up the mangled Assassin's remains by the neck with her left talon.
“I got him for you, mom!” She informed proudly, her tail lashing like a dog presenting its master with the day’s paper.
Lyra held her breath as the monstrously large person reached down with two talons, gingerly plucking the broken remnants from her daughter's grasp, lifting them to the heavens, then flicking them away like a bit of snot.
“Veena,” the red dragoness rumbled irritably as the corpse vanished into the distance. “What have I told you about attacking things like that?”
“I- I didn’t damage the tower!” Veena protested, her mouth curling into a frown.
Maru the Colossus snorted, blowing a few clouds off course, then pointed down at the ground with one talon. “You march right up to the mayor’s office and tell him your sorry for denting his poor road!” She commanded. “Do you know how hard it is for them to carry those little pebbles all the way up here? They have to work so hard to fix their roads and you’ve put that big dent right into their town square. What if you broke one of their pipes? They use stone pipes. Not everyone has power tools or construction magic you know!”
“... I was just trying to protect my Rider. You know, so I don't die when her frail little meat-only body gets a hole shot in it!” Veena huffed, turning around and angrily marching towards the large manor house to the left of the clocktower.
Maru rolled her eyes. “You and I both know you could have easily dispatched that bully without suplexing him hard enough to- Oh! Is she awake now?”
“Yeah,” Veena called grumpily. “I still haven't met her yet… Almost never did. I’ll go apologize to the mayor for protecting my life now.”
“Muffin never gave me this much trouble,” the red dragoness sighed, shaking the ground as she shifted position once more, returning to where she’d been laying before the ruckus began.
Vinyl backed away from the window, bumping into the bed and sitting down on it by accident. Lyra continued to stare out the window, a wide grin spreading across her face.
“That was,” the two said in unison.
“Terrifying!” Vinyl squealed, her heart hammering away at a million kilometers an hour.
“Awesome!” Lyra shouted, grinning ear to ear as decades of fear based thinking and personality crumbled away.
A week of dreamless sleep in a place far from her home dimension had taken its toll on the general state of negativity Lyra had been living in for so long. The pure childlike-glee which filled Lyra’s mind as she saw something unfold before her eyes which could have come straight out of Lyra’s wildest dreams was its deathblow.
Though she didn’t realize it, Lyra herself was free. Reborn after her near death experience. No longer did she feel the desperate need be driven to constantly undo what had been done to her amid a spiral of depression and dread. At least, not for the moment.
I wonder if giant dragon-mom makes giant cookies? Lyra thought, giggling to herself like a schoolfilly. OH-my-gosh! Maybe she’ll let me have one! I could spend a whole decade eating a her sized cookie! That would be the coolest thing ever!
No depressive state is a match for an awakened inner child. At least, not one of Lyra’s caliber.
Vinyl Scratch - Day 5
Safeton - Mount Mercy, Wieav
Vinyl’s heart beat at a million miles an hour. Seeing Maru move was almost more than she could take.
Her talonsteps actually shook the ground! Vinyl squealed fearfully, the audible sound drawing Lyra’s attention.
Lyra turned from the window, her mouth still spread wide in a grin as she cocked her head to the side. “What? Really? Vi, come on, you're not scared of her, are you?”
Vinyl’s jaw dropped in shock. “Y-you’re not?!” She sputtered.
Lyra laughed, putting a hand to her lips to silence herself. “Hehe, sorry, it’s just… How? How can you be scared of Dragon-mom?”
Vinyl jumped up from the bed, raising both arms to point at the sky. “She’s huge!” Vinyl shouted. “What if we have to fight her? What could we possibly do? We couldn’t even run! Big creatures may be slower than smaller ones, but her sheer reach is so big we won't ever be fast enough to move out of her grabbing distance!”
Lyra frowned, her lips pursing in thought. “Fight her? Are you kidding? Why would we?”
“Are you forgetting the situation we’re in?” Vinyl asked, reaching up to rub her temples. “The entire world knows us as servants of the Dark Lord. Yeah, these people don’t. But if that lie gets out while we’re here, she’ll just reach down with a talon and stab us from the sky and there is NOTHING we can do!”
Lyra smirked. “Heh, you know… I remember you used to be a lot more chill. Like, even just a year ago. Look, we’re fine. She wont do anything to us.”
Vinyl looked down at the floor for a moment. Lyra’s starting to notice… I guess I couldn’t keep looking strong for them forever.
“I…” Vinyl began slowly. “Remember when I failed to save Baron Irontalon’s filly?”
“You mean we?” Lyra asked with a sad nod. “Yeah, I remember. That sucked.”
Vinyl looked up at Lyra, her jaw dropping slightly. “That’s all you have to say about it? ‘That sucked’? We watched a little fill- chick get torn in half by timberwolves then watched as all of our closest friends were almost killed, and all you can say about it is ‘that sucked’?”
Lyra’s eyebrows raised in a mixture of alarm and sympathy. “Well, yeah! That’s not the worst thing we’ve been in, and it was like, almost a year ago now. Has it just stuck with you? Vi, get help. And this is coming from a mare whose definitely insane since she’s spent three decades delving into forbidden magic to-”
Lyra blinked twice then frowned. “WOOOOOOW! I’ve been wasting SO MUCH of my life!” She said before returning her gaze to VInyl. “Look, just… I’m here for you. This is a bad time to play therapist, you know, trapped in another universe, forced to LARP with the fate of the world at stake, but I’ll help! What are friends for?”
Vinyl cleared her throat. Talking to a stranger was one thing, but a friend? Her moment of courage was over and a topic change was desperately needed. “Did, uh, did you just get over thirty years of trauma in literally a second with just one realization?”
“Yep!” Lyra confirmed with a grin. “Well, that’s probably been building subconsciously for a while. But that’s not the point. The point is you’re in pain and need help. What’s the problem? We’ve failed before. We’ve even failed to save little ones before. Tartarus, one of our first missions was to break up that foalnapping ring and we saw plenty of colts and fillies who had wound up WORSE than dead.”
Vinyl’s stomach turned. “Yeah, I thought we agreed to not bring that up again. Ever.”
Lyra shrugged. “Just pointing out you’ve seen worse. So it’s not losing that one chick that’s eating away at you. If it was you’d have been like this before. So what is it? And yes I’ll keep prying.”
“Please drop it,” Vinyl begged, looking down at the floor. “We’ve got more important stuff to do.”
Lyra shook her head. “We totally don’t. You’re messed up enough to actually be afraid of a mom who just happens to be really big, and therefore really adorable when scolding her hatchling. What happens if we get into actual battle?”
Vinyl closed her eyes tightly and gripped the blankets beneath her. “Drop it.”
“Remember that time I broke into the Royal Library’s Classified Wing in middle school?” Lyra asked. “They still have no idea that was me. But more importantly, I planned it for a whole year. You thought I was joking and then BAM! I’m reading a book you knew had been destroyed save for that one copy.
“I’m Lyra motherbucking Heartstrings! You think you can keep a secret from me if I want to know it? Please! The whole world did their best to purge all knowledge of Dream Magic from it and I pieced together a complete spellbook from what few scraps survi-.”
Lyra’s eyes shot wide in pure horror as she realized what she was saying. “WOAH! Uhh… I REALLY need to burn that book the MINUTE we get back!”
What the buck? Are nukes medicinal or something?! Vinyl asked herself incredulously. “Did you de-age like sixty years just now?!”
Lyra shrugged. “Maybe! I feel great, better than I have in a really long time. And now that I don't feel all crappy I can see that you feel all crappy. So, what’s up? What’s wrong? Was it watching us all nearly die? That’s happened a few times for each of us. We always pull through.”
Vinyl sighed, and rubbed her temples again. I’d forgotten just how tenacious she is…
“She’s afraid she can no longer lead, because she’s afraid she will fail in a similar way again,” Francine’s voice whispered softly, and seemingly in great pain.
Vinyl yelped and jumped up onto the bed, immediately turning to look at the mangled, skulless body on the floor in horror. “HOLY SISTERS, THIS UNIVERSE HAS ZOMBIES!”
Lyra blinked and looked over as well. “Uh, no, it’s not-” Then she turned back to Vinyl with a deadpan expression on her face. “You really think THAT would work to get me to stop nagging you? Come on, what is it?”
“She’s afraid she can no longer lead, because she’s afraid she will fail in a similar way again,” Francine repeated, louder this time, and with more pain behind her words.
Lyra blinked and looked down at Vinyl’s chest. “Uhhh, okay. Talking armor will do the trick for a bit. Hello?”
Vinyl gently poked the chain links of her armor, frowning uncertainty. “Uh, Francine?”
“Some of her,” Francine whispered. “I anchored my consciousness to your armor. The bulk of it. The rest was lost. I don’t… I don’t know how I did this. Psions do it, it is possible. But I was never trained for this.”
Vinyl nodded slowly. “You sound like you’re really badly hurt. Do you need anything?”
“I died. Of course I’m hurt,” Francine mumbled. “Speaking is… Difficult. I think I need time to heal. We’ll speak later… Your subordinate is right. Seek help. Fear… Fear needs to be slain. It’s… Terrible.”
Vinyl tapped at her armor again. “Hey, wait. Is there anything we need to do for you?” She asked, frowning as she waited for an answer.
But none came.
“Okay,” Vi said decisively after several seconds. “Lyra, we need to get her body to Chem and Sky. Between the two of them they can probably repair it, and since she can just chuck her consciousness into anything she wants, we can get her back in there.”
“Okay,” Lyra said with an agreeable nod. “I don't think I’m physically capable of carrying it, but I’ll try.”
Vinyl nodded. “Okay. Maybe between the two of us we can move it.”
“Or you could let me repair it,” Erna said from the doorway.
That’s right. The door is no longer blocking sound. Cuz there’s a hole in it. Vinyl realized, immediately pushing aside any mention of Chem or their game.
Turning to face the spidergirl Vinyl smiled. “That would be great! I’m not sure if we really could. Our Wizard is… Eh? And our Engineer is already busy. How much are we talking?”
Lyra raised a hand. “Quick question, are you half robot-spider or just really awesomely shiny?” she asked in regards to the Araka’s chrome lower body.
“This is just how the spider my Clan shares our bloodline with looks… Not sure what a Robot is. Is that some Kobold term for metallic creatures?” Erna asked as she slipped through the gaping hole in the door.
A rather impressive feat, given her size.
Okay, better remember that Araka can slip through a hole about half their size. And find that more convenient than opening a door. VI noted.
“As for my fee… I’m not certain. I know that I can regrow a creatures’ head. I’ve done it several times before, and like all Healers we begin work with corpses, it’s not really important if our patients are alive or not. But I have no idea how long it will take me to restore a Tainted’s body. How long will you be in the area?” Erna asked curiously.
Vinyl raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
“Didn’t you say you regretted losing a patient? How’s that a problem for you if you can work on someone dead or alive?” Vinyl asked slowly.
Erna smiled. “Well, I can fix the body. I can’t bring it back to life. But I can make it look pretty. It’s quite common for people to hire me to freshen up someone before their funeral. So they look nice in the casket.
“Actually returning to life is on your friend, not me. I can’t put someone back into a body. I can just fix the body.”
Lyra nodded to herself. “Seems legit.”
“How much are we talking?” Vinyl asked. “Ballpark estimate. We can always come back this way.”
Erma hummned and stroked her chin with her fingers in thought. “Weeellll, you guys ARE adventurers, and you didn’t even bother to negotiate my fee for healing Lyra which I stated upfront as something completely outrageous-”
Lyra facepalmed, grabbed Vinyl by the shoulder, and turned her to face her. “Vi, how much did you pay for this?”
“Uh, well, two hundred and fifty thousand Sheks seemed reasonable. We worked out that two Sheks is equal to a bit, and she takes treasure as well as coin, and we had plenty of it laying about soo-”
“My fee for this is two and a half million,” Erna informed proudly. “It includes the bill for wall and door repair. After all, if someone hadn’t been shooting for you my establishment wouldn’t have been damaged.”
Vinyl sighed. “You let me know about negotiating just to let me know there’s no negotiating this time, right?”
The spider girl nodded, and gave Vinyl a wink. “Right.”
Lyra sighed. “Please tell me we’re heading to some place with a ton of lost treasure laying about.”
Erna snickered. “Uh, of course you are? You’re adventurers. You risk your lives delving into forgotten places of the world, the gods reward you with treasure for amusing them. Come on, you guy are planning to slay the Watchamadoodle at the bottom most level of the Lost King’s Somethingorther, right?”
Vinyl reached up to scratch at the back of her head in embarrassment. “Is adventure really just this casual here?”
Erma giggled. “Well, you did say it was your first time here,” she said shaking her head slowly. “Yes. There’s four or five hundred adventuring groups in Wieav at any given time. Even we hear about them on the radio. There’s certain stations which help people bet on which groups will perish, or get wealthy.”
Lyra’s tail flicked up in excitement. “Are you telling me that adventuring is a SPORT here?” She asked, grinning ear to ear.
“Isn’t it a sport where you come from too?” Erma asked curiously.
Vinyl shook her head. “Not really. It’s more of a necessity there. Uh, anyways, we’ll pay. When we can.”
“I like this place,” Lyra sighed wistfully.
At least one of us is having fun, Vinyl sighed mentally.
“Excellent. I’ll keep your friend’s body as collateral. Since Lyra’s fee was paid upfront, you’re free to leave. Which you should. Right now,” Erma said with a somewhat worried frown. “Maru’s daughter is asking for you… She’s not a normal dragon. She has the extra things. I don’t know what it means but if other Dragons treat them with respect, well… Yeah.”
“And you made her wait?!” Vinyl eeped as she quickly raced for the door.
Erma turned and put a hand on the door handle to open it, only to laugh as she saw the hole in it once more. “Oops! No sense opening this for you, is there? And of course I did. There’s always time for a little business. Good luck you two!”
Vinyl nodded once. “Thank you,” she said sincerly as she ducked through the hole in the door and turned to race down the hallway before realizing she needed to wait for Lyra.
The minty mare stepped through the doorway a second later, took one look at Vinyl’s worried face and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder.
“It’s FINE Vi. We’re completely safe,” she said with a giggle.
“You can’t know that,” VInyl countered.
“I totally can,” Lyra refuted.
“How?” Vinyl questioned with a raised eyebrow as she began to jog down the hallway.
Right! My sword’s in the lock up next to the front door. Don’t forget it.
“What class did I pick at the start of all this?” Lyra asked with a grin.
Vinyl paused for a moment, doing her best to remember that conversation from days ago. Given the events immediately following it, it was a little fuzzy.
“Uh, dragon ride- Oh. Is she your dragon? How could you possibly know?” Vinyl asked a little less worriedly.
“Telepathic link. We’re chatting,” Lyra answered. “Also seriously, she can’t hurt me. There’s some kinda horseapples “Soul Link” thing. If I die, she dies.”
“Wait, what?” Vinyl asked raising an eyebrow worriedly.
“Yeah. Which is why her mom’s harmless. If her mom hurts me, she hurts her kid too. Also her mom’s apparently like… Well, she’s pretty much a Hoofball Mom,” Lyra summarized. “Just really really big.”
Well that does make things better. Not completely okay, but better.
“Why is she so big? Do they all get that big?” Vinyl asked curiously.
Lyra shrugged and remained quiet for a few seconds silently communicating with her new acquaintance.
“Veena says her mom’s a mutant. Not like, comic book style, but you know the “I’ve got a gene that doesn't work” variety. Most dragons stop growing at about two to three meters ground to shoulder, but her mom just didn’t stop. So she’s been growing like she’s still an adolescent for about four thousand years now.” Lyra answered.
The two turned a corner as Vinyl nodded in understanding. The turn brought them into the lobby, wherein Lyra’s partner waited.
Vinyl took one look at Veena up close and took a deep breath. “This world makes NO, SISTERS, DAMNED, SENSE!” Vinyl proclaimed to the heavens.
There was little else she could say when looking at a dragon who was clearly wearing a jetpack, a wrist laser and wrist computer, and had a helmet on which based on it’s design deployed a simple clear bubble-visor to cover her face.
“WHY!” Vinyl demanded, her left eye twitching. “Why, for the love of Luna, is this place populated in one area with a bunch of industrialized people who look like they buy all their technology from Hound, and then another full of people who still think it’s still the Renaissance, and then NOW we’ve got late Solar Era cheezy B-science fiction movie dragons!”
Veena raised an eyebrow suspiciously. “What’s with her?” The dragoness asked, pointing a talon at Vinyl.
Lyra shrugged. “I guess she hates classic science fiction. Come on, space dragons. That’s cool! The only way things could get better is if- Eh, you know what I’m about to say, Vi. Just enjoy it!”
“To answer your question,” Veena said, lowering her head to Vinyl’s eye level. “My people thrived while this world was made to stand still. We’ve left this world for others, aside from a few of us who either can’t leave or like a more primitive lifestyle. The Numericans are aliens, brought here by some accident they caused.”
Veena paused a moment and pointed to the large crest on Vinyl’s tabard. “I’m not sure how you don’t know all of this by virtue of being alive… Especially since you’re a Knight Errant. It’s not like you’ve been living under a rock, you have to be well traveled to graduate from being a squire.”
“It’s just… Really jaring, you know?” Vinyl mumbled to herself. Right, sword. Don’t forget it.
Her inner Dungeon Master more than a little miffed at the anachronistic nature of reality, Vinyl walked over to the locked cabinet on the far side of the wall. Her touch unlocked the magic cabinet, which opened into a space which contained specifically her sword and none of the cabinet's other contents.
“Pff, this is nothing,” Lyra giggled. “I should talk Derpy into taking you to the Restaurant at the End of the Universe sometime. THAT’S a jarringly diverse place.”
“Maybe. You did say their food was amazing,” Vinyl said as she picked up her sword and closed the cabinet. You know, if we ever get the chance to…
Veena turned to look at Lyra, amusement flashing behind her eyes.
“I’ve got a sister named Derpy,” she said wistfully. “Half-sister technically. Mom adopted her because tiny things are adorable. That’s why she takes care of this town.”
Vinyl froze, hands halfway through buckling on her sword belt.
No… There’s ABSOLUTELY no way, She insisted to herself. At least until that little nagging doubt finally forced her to ask. “She doesn't happen to be a meter tall gray furred pegasi with a lazy eye and-”
Vinyl was cut off as Veena spun around and lifted her off the ground with both foretalons. Her sword fell to the floor with a clatter.
“You know my big sis?! I’ve never gotten to meet her because of time dilation differentials! What’s she like? Mom said she’s the sweetest thing ever but she says that about me and I got kicked off the planet for trying to fight Null with a big stick because she’s prohibited dimensional travelers from returning home!” The dragoness blurted out rapidly, her tail swishing across the floor.
Vinyl squirmed in the dragon’s eagerly tight grip. “Ask… Lyra… They’re best… Friends!” She gasped.
“S-seriously?” Veena asked as she set Vinyl down, a look of shock spreading across her face.
“Yeah!” Lyra said with a grin. “This is one tartarus of a coincidence but, well, yeah! We lived in the same town for a long time. I even helped her hook up with a few mares she liked and-”
Lyra trailed off for a moment as a realization hit her. “And she REALLY understated just how big her mom was…”
“Tell me about it,” Vinyl muttered irritably as she picked up her sword again.
“Speaking of mom, she wanted to meet you guys since well, you’re part of the family now,” Veena said as she nodded towards the door. “She’s going to get REALLY chatty though. She really misses Derps. Come on, she planned a lunch- Uh, and no you're not lunch, Vinyl. Lyra’s filled me in.”
That doesn't reassure me much, Vinyl thought to herself.
“Sounds great! Does she make cookies?” Lyra asked hopefully.
“No, but her muffins are pretty great. Come on, it’s not far. We just got to go towards mom’s nose,” Veena said as she pushed the hospice’ doors open and walked outside, Lyra following along at her talons.
Vinyl shook her head as she followed the other two out the door. Sometimes, I swear that my life is just one long series of weird events...
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Getting Over It with Meep The Changeling
But there is one they fear...
In their tongue, she is Dovah Monah...
DRAGON MOM!!
"FUS-ROH-NAG!!"
This chapter was pure gold. Still feeling bad for Vinyl and her freak outs, but Lyra suddenly returning to herself (or even better than her old self) was a nice bonus. I agree with Vinyl, did that nuke have medicine packed into it? Lyra seemed to just completely heal the past 30 years in a few moments, heh. So... Derpy also has a half sister... I'm liking the fact that this is practically one step closer to Veena realizing that Chem and Co are not at all what they seem. I'm just waiting for Veena to realize exactly how Vinyl described Derpy, 'cuz I'm doubting that there are a whole lot of people in this world who know what Derpy looks like while not in dragon form. Also, poor Francine. At least she's still around, although I'm not sure how losing some of her consciousness is going to affect her going forward.
I also just realized, now that I'm a night shift employee and I'm up all hours of the night, I get to read these as soon as they get posted. Yay.
8718286
Well it's not just that. She did get her brain shook up a bit by you know, getting nuked, loosing half her skin, and being blasted into a wall hard enough to put her into a coma. Which lasted for 5 days. That's going to cause some neurological damage right there. Take this excerpt from a medical site's FAQ on comas and recovery.
In short, no one comes out of a coma with their old mind intact. Lyra likly would have had motor problems and other major issues since her "healing" was done via an alchemist drug that accelerates the body's natural processes. Vi saw Lyra' in a coma for a few days. She was realy comatose for a few weeks of her own personal time. SO she was in for a standard length coma. Without the spell craft used to heal her, she would have suffered much worse than some mild memory loss and a personality shift.
TLDR: The brain is a very sensitive organ. It doesn't like getting hit hard enough to turn off.
Remember, she was also recently given a dose of drugs, including painkillers and metabolic boosters. So in addition to any potential brain shakage she's also a little bit high. Once the drugs wear off she might relapse into her old self, or maybe she'll just get a bit less hyper and the mood adjustment will stick.
Nocturnal people of the world, unite! Unite and demand more 24 hour stores and services! Fuck you, daywalkers!
You live/lived in Ponyville. That's not only a given, it's the law. If you don't experience shenanigans at least twice a month Twily & Co come and take you into the adventure of your life.
8718249
Goddammit pop I was drinking Coke! I nearly blew it through my nose!
Vinyl needs therapy, pronto. That mission was most likely the straw that broke the camel's back. And they don't have free healthcare in saddle Arabia, poor camel
Francine and her psionic bullshitery. No one should be able to shrug having their head blown off! Avoid such blowing is ok, but Feel no Pain saves... Oh I see what you did there, you sneaky bug you
Suplexing cyber dragon is best dragon mount. That description did give her a massive Flash Gordon feel though, and that's a plus. Do her lasers have cheesy seventies sound effects?
Now I've got to wonder how hard it would be for Mama dragon to get more hatchlings. Her biology certainly isn't made to comport partners the size of her clit
And are her muffins better than Derpy's? I mean, she did teach her, but Derpy already became a mom... OH SHIT IT'S NOT A MAMMA DRAGON, IT'S A GRANDMA DRAGON!!!
Welp, so much for the assassin. Justice for Francine.
Excellent, confirmation that this really is Derpy's adoptive mother. I can't wait for that revelation, assuming it happens.
Emotional health progress!
I'm pretty sure Vinyl does not yet know that Maru is the mother of your new dragon ridee.
Huh. I did not expect that.
Oh, okay.
Well, this is at least mildly convenient. Temporarily out of body Francine can't dangerously freak out while in the city, or at least can't cause quite as much damage doing so while just possessing Vinyl's armor.
Well, it is an RPG setting that is somehow also a functioning world.
Nice.
I really do like the space dragons.
Yes!
8718791
Don't worry. Fluttershy is tending tot he camel. As for Vi, her problem is her cool dude persona.It's hard to look cool and be the awesome piller of support for your friends when you're coming home from a therapy session.
And that makes ONE XD
Okay, so, since no one got it... She's a white dragon, with white, electric green, and purple armor. She's got a jetpack, a wrist communicator, and a wrist laser that fires a red beam. She's also a space ranger. SO yes. Yes the laser does make a sound. This sound.
She paid a particularly deviant dragon to go inside and get the job done. That's how she had Veena. Who she had exclusively because empty nest syndrome.
8719734
I thought it would be neet if people got to know the person the magic item was for a change.
I love your stories derpy mom is awesome!
8720842 I'm glad I've made something you love :3 That's all I ever set out to do ^.^
8721846 I personalty prefer this version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV3VjF64ga4
8721927
For once I'm not sure where you're going with that.
Lyra’s professionalism stat dropped to 2!
Lyra’s seriousness stat dropped to 3!
Lyra’s humor stat is over 9000!
The chances of Lyra not spouting anything positive in a given conversation is a statistical improbability!
Now it gets good!
8722074 It's the same "everything is terrible, but who gives a shit?" message, only Cheese Sandwich is telling it to you. As a birthday song. It's just better :3
8722559
Ah, ok! Sorry my brain failed to make the connection. As usual I bow to your superior knowledge.
8722821 Sorry, I didn't mean objectively better, just that it's better to me personally. I hope that didn't come across as dickish of me.
8722920
Oh no, I was mearly referencing the fact that I completely missed the songs meaning. Once you pointed it out to me I realized it was much better at portraying the point I was trying to get across. I would tell you if I was offended, which is pretty hard to do to me, I'd most likely offend you, unintentionally of course.
Did i mention I'm loving this story, and all the easter egg's you put in it? Cus I do